


bury a friend (bury them all)

by nineofcupsnpc, zhuzhting



Category: NINE PERCENT (Band), 偶像练习生 | Idol Producer (TV)
Genre: Lots of Murder, M/M, Murder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-18
Updated: 2019-02-18
Packaged: 2019-10-30 23:10:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17837798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nineofcupsnpc/pseuds/nineofcupsnpc, https://archiveofourown.org/users/zhuzhting/pseuds/zhuzhting
Summary: It starts with one friend. Then two. When it gets to three Zhengting finds that counting is painful.Xukun and Ziyi are always there to help ease the pain.Prompt:#24: it is a mystery on how their friends suddenly started disappearing one by one. once a group of sixteen now turned a group of nine, eight, seven, six, one by one, no sign or trace of them, no confirmation or bodies shown, two men, crazy in love, two men who only wants the attention of one.





	bury a friend (bury them all)

**Author's Note:**

> this one is a little dark and may need a little suspension of belief. i really did try and I hope it lived up to what the prompt asked for

It’s Zhengting who spots them first.

They were always together, not huddled in a way that most shy and introverted people were, but with upturned faces that seemed to always look down on everyone else. Hard to approach and so very mysterious, people were equal parts interested and scared, most stayed away.

Zhengting wasn’t most people.

“You guys look very bored.”

One of them glances at Zhengting. “What’s there to be not bored about?”

“Well for one thing,” Zhengting smiles and maybe it’s a little flirtatious but he never claimed that he wasn’t, “me.”

It’s all supposed to be fun times from there.

 

* * *

 

Xukun and Ziyi, he learns, are a set deal, one was never far away from another and inviting one to anything always meant inviting the other.

“Come to the café with us.” Zhengting’s already tugging on Ziyi’s arm, pulling him up from the seat, insistent, handsy, everything no one dared to be.

Ziyi doesn’t seem to mind the pulling, and he stands up with lethargic limbs and zero qualms for Zhengting’s whining about how slow he was. “When Xukun gets here,” he tilts his head back over his shoulder, “he’s still taking to his professor about something.”

Zhengting knows that’s how they always are but he pouts anyways, petulant. “He can just catch up.”

“Catch up to what?”

Xukun’s glances down at where Zhengting’s hands are still around Ziyi’s wrist and he looks back up at Zhengting with raised eyebrows. “Where are you going?”

“To the café outside of campus.” Zhengting’s quick to grab Xukun’s wrist as well and Xukun is following along in almost the same manner Ziyi was, slow and easy, going with the flow without any protest.

When they get there Zhengting’s friends meet them with sunny smiles and loud voices. Zhengting lets go of Ziyi and Xukun in favor of sitting down, making sure they’re seated first.

“Hey,” Zhengting greets, leaning into Yanchen’s side. “What’s up?”

Yanchen wraps an arm around his shoulder, pulls him closer. “Nothing much, just listening to Chengcheng complain about his professor again-”

“It’s a legitimate concern!” Chengcheng exclaims.

“-I see you brought Tweedledee and Tweedledum.”

Zhengting rolls his eyes, smacks Yanchen in the shoulder. Yanchen never warmed up to Ziyi and Xukun, most of his friends didn’t. “Don’t call them that.”

He looks at where Ziyi and Xukun are draped lazily on their seats. Seeing that they don’t really seem to mind, he lets out a tiny sigh of relief.

“Anyways,” Chengcheng says with a dramatic flourish, “back to me.”

 

* * *

 

“Dude,” Justin slides into the chair across from Zhengting, “no offense but Ziyi and Xukun still give me the creeps.”

“Be nice,” Zhengting scolds, frowning. “They’re my friends.”

Justin kicks his feet up, and Zhengting pushes them back down. “Well, your other friends all notice that they’re kind of, I don’t know, weird? They never talk unless it’s to you. I’m pretty sure they would kill us if they could.”

Zhengting rolls his eyes, glares at Justin “You’re exaggerating.”

“Still,” Justin raises both his hands up in surrender, “they have murder eyes.”

“What the fuck are murder eyes?”

“You know-” Justin, leans forward, makes a poor attempt at what he deems are _murder eyes_ looking much too ridiculous. “-murder eyes.”

Zhengting is unable to stifle a laugh at that and he shakes his head. “Stop that,” he says, “they’re good people. Just give them a chance.”

“If you say so.” Justin shrugs, slumping back down into his chair.

A shadow falls over half of Justin’s face and he looks up to see Chengcheng grinning down at him.

“Hey, have you two seen Yanchen?” He says in greeting, pulling himself a chair and pouting a little when both barely make a sound in acknowledgement. “He’s supposed to helping me with one of my classes.”

“Yanchen? Really?”

Chengcheng lays half his body all over the table, grinning when Zhengting glares at the arm over his book. “Yeah, he’s supposed to be really good at Marketing. Got a B+ in sir Zhang’s class.”

Justin lets out a low whistle. “I heard the highest grades he ever gives are Cs.”

“Yea, me too.” Chengcheng huffs. “But now I’m going to fail my class because my tutor is off somewhere doing god knows what.”

“Ask Xingjie.” Zhengting’s attention, now fully pulled away from his books, is wholly on Chengcheng. It really wasn’t like Yanchen to just cancel plans without any warning, he was easygoing and a little mischievous, yeah, but he would never just flake on his friends. He makes a mental note to go check in him later. “He got an A in that class.”

Chengcheng’s eyes go impossibly wide. “Really?”

“Who do you think helped Yanchen get a B+?”

“Thanks, man.” Chengcheng pats his shoulder as he gets up. “You’re a lifesaver.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Zhengting pushes his hand away with a wave. “Go away now.”

 

* * *

 

Yanchen stays missing for 2 weeks.

Xingjie reports him missing after 2 days and the police say they’re doing everything they can.

Zhengting is unable to sleep.

“Are you okay?”

A hand holds onto his arms, steadies him when he tilts too far to the left and Zhengting blinks up blurrily to look at Xukun whose eyebrows furrowed in worry.

“Yeah,” Zhengting’s vision slowly comes back to full clarity. He sighs when Ziyi and Xukun finally enter his line of sight. “It’s just I’ve been so worried about Yanchen. I can’t seem to fall asleep.”

Ziyi presses a hand to his forehead. “You need rest. You should come back to our place and we can-”

“Zhengting!”

Xinchun takes long strides towards them, a smile on his face that is a little too rigid to be actually happy. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you.” He steps into their space and Zhengting is pulled away from Ziyi and Xukun’s grasps. Zhengting leans into him for support.

“Let’s go home, you look pale.” Xinchun says, guiding Zhengting in taking a step back. “We’ll see you later. Ziyi-“ his eyes flicker between the two, wary, “-Xukun.”

The two don’t respond as they watch Xinchun and Zhengting walk away.

 

* * *

 

Xinchun disappears three days later and Zhengting finds that the darkness of the night seems a lot more sinister. He sleeps with the light on and even then he spends most nights staring and the fluorescent glow on the ceiling.

They search for him day in and day out. Chengcheng almost fails sir Zhang’s class.

Ziyi and Xukun find Zhengting dozing off on one of the tables in the cafeteria one day. When they approach he’s on full-alert, skittish and eyes snapping around, searching. “We haven’t seen you around lately.”

“Yeah,” Zhengting seems to sag, melting into his seat. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright.” Xukun shrugs. “We understand it’s been hard for you.”

Ziyi rests a hand on his head, cards his fingers slowly through his hair and Zhengting isn’t ashamed of how he leans into it, practically purring. “We weren’t really close with them, but we’ll try to help in any way we can.”

“Thanks,” Zhengting yawns, burying his face into his shoulders. “I really appreciate your guys. Love you.”

He falls asleep soon after that, with Ziyi’s hands soothing him and Xukun’s voice talking about nothing in particular.

 

* * *

 

Zhengting beams up at Ruibin when he drops a binder down onto his lap. Inside are all the notes he needed for all the classes he’s missed.

“You’re the best.” He exclaims, tossing the binder down onto the seat he once occupied, standing to wrap his arms around his friend. Ruibin pats his back, lets Zhengting squeeze the life out of him “I love you so much.”

Ruibin laughs, winks when Zhengting steps back. “Anything for you.”

“You make me blush.” Zhengting doesn’t think he’s smiled like this since Xinchun disappeared, since Yanchen.

Ruibin allows Zhengting link his arm around his, dragging him out of the building with promises of buying him lunch.

 

* * *

 

When Ruibin disappears, the whole campus starts to kick up into a frenzy.

Everyone is warned not to stay outside too late, to avoid walking the streets alone.

Zhengting spends most nights strolling about in the dark. It was his friends who were disappearing one by one, he wasn’t even sure what he was looking for, maybe a fight, Justin told him he was looking for death.

He stands under the incandescent glow of a lamppost, eyes scanning from the left to the right then back again. He tries not to startle at the darkness that lay beyond the protection of the light.

“What are you doing here?” Zhengting calls out when he spots two familiar figures headed his way. “The police said we shouldn’t be walking around alone at night.”

“We’re not alone.” Xukun says, stepping under the circle of light that surrounded Zhengting. “We could say the same thing about you.”

Ziyi reaches for his hand and Zhengting doesn’t realize he’s shaking until he can see his hand engulfed in Ziyi’s. “We’ll take you home.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

Xukun take the other, dragging him along, out of the light of the lamppost, into the dark that gave him nightmares. “We want to. Let us take you home.”

“Okay.” Zhengting tries not to sound weak, tries not to let his voice shake. He fails horribly.

Wenjun is waiting at the door when they arrive. His eyes linger on Ziyi and Xukun’s hand on Zhengting as he helps Zhengting move behind him and into the house. “Thanks for bringing him back.” He says curtly and Zhengting doesn’t hear what ZIyi or Xukun says but Wenjun closes the door with a little more force than he usually does.

When Wenjun holds his hand to pull him to his room, he realizes he’s stopped shaking.

 

* * *

 

Wenjun disappears and Zhengting thinks he’s lost all his sanity.

“Zhengting,” Chengcheng says, pulling away the hands that Zhengting digs into his own scalp. “Zhengting you have to breathe.”

Zhengting can’t hear anything above the sound of his own heartbeat and Chengcheng stays until air starts to fill his lungs again.

“We’re going to find him,” Chengcheng promises, and Zhengting thinks he’s being unfair, because Chengcheng was breaking apart too. “We’re going to find all of them.”

It would be funny, how fast their roles reverse and Chengcheng is suddenly heaving wet shaky breaths into Zhengting’s shoulder, but it’s not funny and Zhengting thinks that maybe the devil was laughing at them. Maybe god was.

He doesn’t fancy those ideas longer than he should. They mock him.

 

* * *

 

They find a box in their doorstep and Zhengting opens it to find a foot.

Chengcheng throws up and Justin runs up into his room. Zhengting digs his nails into the palms of his hands until he draws blood. Then he digs them in deeper.

They take it to the police and find out days later than it’s Wenjun’s.

Zhengting breaks the mirror in his bathroom and curls up amongst the shards.

 

* * *

 

Ziyi and Xukun are always there for him. They help him sleep and tell him it’s all going to be okay.

Zhengting finds himself not believing their words.

 

* * *

 

Chengcheng disappears and Zhengting screams.

He screams until his throat is raw and his lungs are empty.

He comes back to their home and tries to comfort Justin, Zeren, and Quanzhe to the best of his abilities, but the silence of the house echoes around him he finds his words empty.

 

* * *

 

There’s an ear on the table in his room, Zhengting isn’t sure if it’s really there or if he’s losing his mind.

He keeps the ear in a tiny box and cooks Justin breakfast that they both pretend to eat.

 

* * *

 

It’s all his friends. So it’s all his fault. Quanzhe doesn’t come home one day. Two weeks after that, Zeren seems to disappear from the dance studio he stays at until dawn, trying to forget everything. Xingjie was on the way to meet him when he doesn’t show up.

Justin is the only one he has left and Zhengting is afraid he doesn’t even have himself anymore.

Zhengting doesn’t let him out of his sight and Justin allows it because he’s just the same.

“I’m just going to go pee.” Justin stands up, pushing Zhengting down when he makes a move to get up. “I’ll be fine. I promise.”

Zhengting doesn’t want to, but he nods, letting him go,

Justin doesn’t come back. Zhengting is tired of promises.

 

* * *

 

Zhengting finds a hand in a box on his doorstep and it’s wrapped well with a pretty bow on top.

He traces the fingertips with his and laughs when they feel cold to the touch.

He laughs and laughs until he passes out.

 

* * *

 

They stand in the middle of trees and foliage and not much else. Nothing but the sound of nature and the eyes of the forest witnessing every move.

“Why did you call us here?” There a hint of a smile on Xukun’s face, in his voice. His face tilted slightly to the side and Zhengting thinks it’s mocking.

“It’s you, isn’t it?” It’s not a question really. An accusation loaded with a bullet Zhengting wishes would shoot them between the eyes.

Ziyi’s indulgent, enticing, pulling Zhengting lower and lower into the rabbit hole of madness. “What is?”

“Yanchen, Wenjun, Justin,” Zhengting finds it hard to say their names, it was like he had killed them himself. “You killed them.”

“Yeah.” Xukun tilts his head back, not in defiance, more indifference than anything else. “We did.”

And it’s out there. Proud, waving in the air, mocking Zhengting. They had strung up his friends and laid them out in front of him.

“Why?” Zhengting doesn’t yell, he doesn’t scream. He finds he no longer has the voice to. “Why not me?”

“Because we love you.” It’s Ziyi, this time, that answers and it’s a kick to the gut. It twists and twists and twists his dead, beating heart so much so that he no longer recognizes it.

“Stop.” Zhengting says. He has a knife in his hand. He wants to kill them. He needs to. “Shut up.”

“But we do.” Ziyi says again. “We love you so much.”

“So much.” Xukun echoes.

Zhengting walks closer, knife in his limp hand by his side. “Kill me,” he whispers when he’s close enough. “If you love me, kill me.”

Xukun shakes his head and he lifts Zhengting’s hand presses the tip of it against his own chest. “We can’t do that. We love you.”

“Then I-” Xukun doesn’t flinch at the metal that digs into his chest, slowly forcing its way in. “Then I’ll have to kill you.”

 _Do it._ There’s mirth in Xukun’s eyes, a taunt and Zhengting bites the bait willingly, pushes his own self over the edge.

When Xukun’s body falls into a slump on the ground, still moving, with him taking shallow breaths, Ziyi tilts Zhengting’s chin towards him.

“You’re so beautiful.” He praises and Zhengting can taste the blood in his mouth. “So very beautiful.”

Zhengting doesn’t see much aside from red after that.

“We love you.” Ziyi breaths out one last time.

Zhengting buries them in shallow graves and doesn’t look back.

**Author's Note:**

> yo wassup, so i've been gone lately and i apologize for no warning on twitter. i've just been really busy and dying i love u all and i hope you guys enjoy this. i'll be back and better than ever hopefully soon.
> 
> yell at [me](https://twitter.com/zhuzhting)


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